I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my amusement. Since Gwen came along, I hadn’t had a lot of game nights with these two, but it was clear their competitiveness had only grown.
“First song begins now. You have one minute!”
RATTLESNAKE, RATTLESNAKE, RATTLESNAKE PEBBLE.
“What the fuck is this?” Garrett mumbled.
“Come on, hero,” I teased because I couldn’t stop myself. “Expand your mind?”
“Rattlesnake isn’t even Christmas?” Christian ran his hand over his hair, the ends sticking up making him look unhinged. “Snakes? Worms? Pen, you got anything?”
“It’s clever.” Charlotte smiled as she studied the projector screen in the front of the room with a half smile. “I really like this idea. It’s so unique.”
“Thirty seconds!” someone yelled.
“Wait.” Charlotte held up her finger. “If you say it in a rhythm likerattlesnake, rattlesnake, rattlesnake, pebble? It sounds familiar.”
“All you did was say the words! There was no rhythm!” Christian yelled. “‘Jingle Bells’? ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’? Maybe there’s a snake in there?”
“Wait! ‘Jingle Bells.’ Hold on.” Garrett snapped his fingers, his eyes growing to the size of ornaments. “Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock.”
“Write it down! Yes, G-thang. You sexy rock star!” Penny threw her hands in the air and shimmied. “That’s totally it!”
“This game is dumb,” Christian said, despite writing the answer down on our paper just as the timer went off. “If you call him sexy again, I will kill him.”
“Murdering me won’t make me less attractive. My obituary photo will be hot as hell.” Garrett puffed out his chest. “Not just a pretty face. I know lyrics too.”
I shook my head, my lips twitching just as Charlotte caught my eye. A soft smile was splayed across her lips, but it disappeared as a light pink blush crept up her neck. God, I would love to know why she blushed. Even if nothing could happen because of it, I just wanted to know. She cleared her throat and took the marker from Christian’s hands. She spun it around her fingers in a fun twirl a few times before Brendon spoke again.
“Song two. Make sure you write your team name on the paper, please. You’re lucky you weren’t the only ones who forgot, Jingle My Balls.”
“They can’t even follow simple directions,” Charlotte whispered. “How sad.”
“You’re ruthless.” I nudged her. “I wouldn’t want to play against you, Coach. You’d intimidate me.”
She beamed. “Good. Remember that.”
And if you viewed him
you would suggest it shines
all other animals
I used to laugh and insult her.
They never left poor Rodolfo…
“Rodolfo?” Christian frowned. “Insult?”
Penny chewed one of her nails as she paced, muttering to herself. If I didn’t also want to win, I’d observe how everyone reacted. It was entertaining as hell.
“Oh, come the fuck on. This one is so easy! It’s ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’!” Garrett pointed at the screen. “It’s right there.”
“How do you even know this?” Christian yelled. “If this was trivia, I’d kick all your asses. I know that shit. Dumb shit. Random shit. I own it. But this? Not so much.”
“Stop saying you own shit. That’s weird.” Charlotte wrote the answer down on the paper. “Mom and Dad always said we all have our strengths. Being bad at this is just one of yours.”
Garrett laughed. “God, I love your sister. Can I marry her? Char, be my wife. Make me a kept man.”
